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Abstract

The intent of action is the achievement of something decisive. Within any business, decisiveness is hopefully linked to the successful generation of revenue due to the right product being introduced to the right market at the right time. The challenge is to ensure that once a product is released to the market, the most revenue possible can be earned. In the case of higher education, one potential product is online education offerings that provide learning opportunities to students who cannot participate in a traditional education. The development of digitized educational materials for online use, however, can be costly and subsequent revenue streams may generate little or no revenue, which has occurred in some instances for distance education programs.

Background: Increasing Globalization And E-Learning

Two phenomena characterizing business and education in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century are globalization and the use of Internet technologies (Jelen & Alon, 2004; Lim, 2004). Globalization is an ongoing process of breaking down barriers among nations and is often compared with the following phenomena: internationalization, liberalization, universalization, and westernization:

Internationalization refers to the increased interaction among people from different countries. Liberalization refers to the reduction of regulatory barriers. Universalization refers to the spread of people and cultural phenomena to all corners of the globe. Westernization refers to the process of greater homogenization and of the world becoming more western. (Scholte, 2000, cited inKaloudis, 2003, p.3)

Globalization is viewed as “a multifaceted, historical development with differential impact according to the place and the specific dimensions involved” (Glastra, Hake, & Schedler, 2004, p. 292). Effects of globalization have been observed in developments such as increased outsourcing and offshoring (Parry, 2004), street demonstrations opposing free trade (Mejia-Vergnaud, 2004), and men’s attire (Zelinsky, 2005). It is no longer possible for global companies to grow without projecting beyond the boundaries of a single nation; they face new challenges. For example, it is estimated that 100,000–170,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. between 2000 and 2003 due to offshoring (Parry, 2004), which indicates that the lost jobs are now maintained in other countries, and that some of them are likely operated under the management of U.S. companies. In addition, companies have to work smarter and faster to keep abreast of the information revolution created from globalization. However, they are suffering from a “leadership crisis,” as they desperately need leaders who can manage multiple cultures; the consistent corporate culture and a variety of local cultures (Wellins & Rioux, 2000).

Key Terms in this Chapter

TIG Audit Analysis: Review of the Internal Audit data to determine what material can be easily re-purposed as well as the possible market potential for those materials.

TIG Market Analysis: Occurs after Market Stratification and is when entrepreneurial considerations are put to the litmus test in terms of the chance for success or failure by identifying markets where risk can be minimized.

TIG Marketing: The development of a marketing plan to develop, or further enable, the re-purposing of the content a program is trying to broker.

Transformative Income Generation (TIG): A model by which the investment for online educational offerings can be re-purposed by analyzing existing or new content and determining the cost effectiveness of delivery to pre-determined markets with a high chance for financial success.

TIG Internal Audit: Determination of what is taught within a program online via distance education, what is taught online on-sight, and what is not taught online or uses limited technology for consideration of re-purposing.

TIG Market Stratification: Market potential is considered and thought is given as to how to re-purpose the educational material giving consideration to both business-to-consumer (students, adult learners, continuing education, etc.) as well as business-to-business (other colleges and universities, libraries, corporations, etc.) markets.

TIG Implementation Considerations: Occurs after the evaluation of business-to-consumer or business-to business opportunities are considered in light of the impact it may have on the institution.